Tag Archives: Black Panther

Sorry I wasn’t here last week. I was in Kansas City, helping to raise money for the wonderful HERO INITIATIVE (Click on the name and go donate!) so, I could not come to the Bun Toon.

But I did do something this week that I’ve been waiting to do for decades.

No punch line this week.

Just jumping for joy.

Ty the Guy OUT!

Long time readers of this Bunny blog are familiar with my connection to Avengers #58.

It all begins here

I’ve “re-imagined” the story at least twice while writing different Avengers books over the years, and make no secret of my love of the Vision.

But the Black Panther holds a similar place in my heart because of that issue, and I made a point of including Panther as often as I could manage it when working on Marvel projects.

When Dan Slott and I were putting together plans and ideas for the Spider-Man/Human Torch mini-series we did, Dan asked if I had any wishes for the plot. “Black Panther” was my only request, and he appeared in issue #4.

When I was writing the AVENGERS UNITED mini-series in the early 2000s, I was given a set of Avengers to work with (Wasp, Vision, Hawkeye, Ant-Man, Wonder-Man, Tigra, Falcon) and Black Panther was not amongst them.

Nevertheless, in the premiere issue of that series, the Avengers first appear on page 2-3 in a sequence where they’re working out in the training room…

….You’ll notice Black Panther is there, in the background. The story claims he’s “visiting” the mansion while he’s in New York, even though he’s not an Avenger. I’m sneaky that way.

Some months later, the Avengers are captured by the Collector and find themselves on the Collector’s ship, in orbit around Earth.

…you’ll notice T’Challa is there, behind cap’s leg. Apparently the Collector didn’t know The Panther wasn’t an Avenger and he captured him along with the team “accidentally”.

He’s there in the next couple of issues, too.

I made sure the Black Panther appeared in as many issues as the editor would let me get away with. I wasn’t writing the Avengers without him.

Why?

Because the Black Panther is the ultimate heroic character. He’s insanely wealthy, he’s king of his own country, he’s young, handsome and good looking and a genius inventor….but he spends his time helping the less fortunate instead of wallowing in his remarkable good fortune. And unlike Batman, T’Challa’s not doing the heroic bit because of personal trauma or compulsion…he’s doing it because it’s the right thing to do. It’s his moral position that those who can help, must help.

As a kid, I never wanted to be Batman, because of the whole orphaned childhood thing. And I never wanted to be Superman…it’s too weird that you could fly.

But I wanted to BE Black Panther.

Who wouldn’t?

Some pages from the amazing “Panther’s Rage” story that introduced Killmonger and the whole concept of a two hundred page comic book story. Art by Billy Graham (the other one).

Nice job on the movie, guys. You could have screwed it up and ya didn’t. Thank you from this happy five year old boy who waited patiently.

Today’s Bun Toon was the subject of a lengthy, lengthy discussion on my facebook page this week.

What I talk about, I toon about.

While there are folks who MEAN well when they say “All Lives Matter”, they are doing the work of people who want to belittle the black community and silence their cry of alarm. Whatever you thought you meant by “All Lives Matter”, it’s not coming across as anything but rude jackassery in the face of neighbours who need your help.

If you wouldn’t say it to an ambulance, and you wouldn’t say it to a breast cancer survivor, think about why it’s okay to say it to BLM supports…

Ty The Guy OUT!

The history of black characters in comics included some strongly offensive characters in the golden age:

Back in the 40s, The Spirit’s assistant/sidekick “Ebony White” was a character of contrasts: Besides being a ghastly stereotype visually and verbally, he was a resourceful and brave character.

Marvel’s “Whitewash Jones” (one of the Young Allies Hostages being saved by Bucky and Toro, lower right) was the same sort of offensive visual. Like Ebony, the character was brave, uneducated and loyal.

In the late 40s, a black journalist named Orrin Cromwell Evans founded “All-Negro Comics” publishing, a venture that lasted only one issue, unfortunately, as he could not get wholesalers to sell him the newsprint he needed to print his books on.

In the late 50s, Dell introduced LOBO, arguably the first mainstream African American comic book hero that wasn’t visually offensive. Unfortunately, the series didn’t last very long, likely too liberal an idea for the times.

Jackie Johnson, a gunner for Sgt. Rock’s Easy Company, became mainstream comic’s first continuing character with African heritage in 1960.

Jackie continued to appear as a support character in Sgt. Rock straight through to the 90s, fighting alongside Ice Cream Soldier, Little Sure Shot and Wildman in an integrated platoon that never would have seen action in the real World War II.

Jackie was quickly followed in the early Sixties by Gabe Jones, one of Sgt. Fury’s platoon in the Marvel version of the World War II Sergeant genre.

Ironically, Gabriel Jones and The Young Allies’ Whitewash Jones, were BOTH created by Jack Kirby…who went on to co-create the Black Panther, one of comics coolest heroes ever.

Face Front, true believers!

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(-Thanks to B.C. Holmes and Robert Klarer for the head’s up correction on All-Negro Comics. I’m late, but I correct.)